Off Heart
by Van the Key of Lain
Summary: All is calm after the fall of Cluster Prime's evil Queen. Tremerton has had some quiet days. Yet Jenny is having...nightmares of a shattered and blood stained city. Horrible creatures...death...and piercing red eyes. Why can't things ever be normal?


Hi all. Yeah I haven't done a lot lately have I? Sorry; life stuff and all. Well, I have this story, and another I want to get a bit onto screen first; then I need to go and finish 'I feel I'm in a Dream' and Work on the last little of 'Life for what it's worth'; and hopefully jump over to some others.  
Anywho, welcome to my first shot at MLaaTR! I'm pretty big on the series; it's cute and fun, and I love all the characters. Note that I've never really heard what time this series takes place, but for the purpose of this fiction, let's just say its now; like 2004 now. Nothing changes, just the time.  
This story contains a few OCs; only one is really featured, but this is not your normal OC. Now enjoy!  
/----------------------------/

My Life As A Teenage Robot  
/Heart  
(Off Heart)

Src"1" Conditions

A large dark empty hallway stretched on for an unknown distance. The interior was barren and hollow; and very little light penetrated the steel walls. Asides from a soft humming of running computers, all was still and quiet for the moment. It was like an ancient tomb, yet as pristine as if it had just been built.  
A sudden intake of rushing air filled the hallway as a large door opened, and shut quickly, followed by the soft echo of clattering footfalls. This silent walk went on for only a few moments, as the occupant reach the anticipated destination.

"Sigma-Hex-Epsilon -Lambada-Delta-Omicrom-Nutech." Spoke the young male voice.

Upon this, the large door aside the panel whooshed open with ease. The boy walked through, making his way towards the center of what looked like some surrealistic laboratory from some Sci-Fi movie. As the boy neared the center of the room, which contained a large cylinder like structure, it flickered to life- powering the entire room. A large monitor screen that once was blank was filled with a glow, and shortly after replaced by an image of a woman.

"Sigma… it's been awhile since your last report." The woman spoke softly.

At first glance, one could guess the woman to be in her early forties, as her face and body depicted as much. However, if one took the time to really look at this woman, one could see that she in fact wasn't human.  
She was what appeared to be an adult female robot.

"I know… I've been…. preoccupied." Sigma stated, not looking at the woman on the screen. Instead he busied himself with some machinery.

"This wouldn't happen to related to the Global Response Unit XJ9 would it?"

"No." Sigma replied; a little too quickly as he buried himself into his gadgets.

"Sigma... I know you're lying. I know you care for this… girl. But please, you can't let it interfere with your mission."

Sigma turned around; an annoyed expression on his face.

"She's not interference! She's my friend and I….. I really care about her wellbeing."

"Yes, I know. I also know you care more about her than your letting on. I'm not saying it's a bad thing Sigma, but… I'm just a little surprised. You had many girls here who seemed to like you well enough; who are more advanced-" The woman spoke, but was cut off.

"I don't care if they or I or we are more advanced!" Sigma spoke loudly. He turned to the woman, and took a step forward. As he did, he began to fly up towards the screen, getting upfront with the woman.

"Jenny likes me for me… even though half the time I screw up. She became my friend because I was one of the few who reached out to her. She sees past all this 'human' façade of beauty on the outside, or caring more about herself than others."

"Speaking of beauty, what possessed you to take that appearance? You look like the 'weak' humans depicted in your reports."

Sigma narrowed his eyes lightly in annoyance. "That's beside the point."

Thinking for a moment, he casually reached back and pressed an unseen button on his left shoulder blade; which caused his 'skin' to sag. It then split open and Sigma slipped out of it. He glided over to a chair below and hung the 'skin' over the back like one would a garment of clothing. He now stood in the middle of the room, his true self revealed to only himself and the woman he spoke with. The majority of his body was a silver toned color; with the exception of red torso, grey-blue legs and his black hair. His body seemed streamlined and smooth; giving him the air of a robot whom was built by someone more advanced than someone on planet Earth.  
Sigma's expression of annoyance faded into one of melancholy as he stared at his 'skin'. That was a good question. Why had he picked such a look? Oh yes, to be left alone. It was for reasons of the mission.

"You are such a handsome young man, hun." The woman smiled, speaking adoringly.

Sigma bowed his head, noting a slight blush along his silver features.

"I just want you to be careful Sigma. Our mission is top most priority. We've been working on this for over 100 years, and as harsh as it is to say; this mission can not be compromised by your feelings over this girl."

"I know. And I am careful. I always am. You have no idea how many times I've wanted to just punch out Don Prima, or mess around with Brit and Tiff. Just to scare them off and get them off my case. But I don't. I won't. No matter how much I want to tell Jenny I understand her." He paused a moment, then sighed.

"Fifteen years in this city and nothing was to be had of it. Everything was alright, I could say. Then in the last past year, she came and took me for a loop."

"It will be hard Sigma. But I have every faith in you. Just do your best."

"I know. I will….I promise." Sigma nodded, staring at his titanium kelvanic legs.

"All right then. I must be going. I have a meeting to attend. Please take care, and try to focus just a bit more if you can."

"I will."

"Take care, be safe, hun. Love you." The woman spoke softly then disappeared; the screen returning to its faint dull blank glow.

"Love you too, Mom." Sigma spoke lightly, almost more to himself, as his blank gaze stared off into the large tube sparking with electricity. For the moment, his mind was too wrapped up with his feelings and inner turmoil to process what he should be working on. However after a second or two, he huffed lightly and glided over to a nearby console, and began writing up his newest report.  
/----------------------------/

The day began with promise. Promise of a fun day out with friends doing whatever you could possibly want to do. With the defeat of Cluster Prime, and Vexus along with it; only rarely did Jenny find any straggling members of the accursed order trying to destroy her; though there were a few every now and then. They were always muttering about some kind of resistance. Jenny doubted the few remaining could form any resistance powerful enough to stop here, and what was more, she now had a few new allies to aid her in battle. Of course they were her newest robot friends too.

"Nothing like skating away all the bore school puts into you." Brad sighed away as he glide across the ground on his skateboard. Tucker hummed away as he rode his new Power-Trice behind him.

"It's been so nice lately since all the major threats to the town have been averted. Though, I still have to deal with Meteors, Fires, Robbers…" Jenny reflected a moment.

"Nothing you can't handle Jenny!"

"Aww, you're just saying that Tuck." Jenny smiled.

"Nah, he's right Jenny. You're pretty much free from fighting the big guys; or at least until someone else shows up." Brad noted.

"Do you really think there could be someone or some other thing out there more dangerous than the cluster was?" Jenny looked to her tall red-headed friend.

"Nah… if there was, they would have tried to take over the planet when you were gone, and while the cluster was here. Since they would be 'stronger', the cluster would be no match. It makes perfect since." Brad smiled at his quickly thought of ideal.

" Or, perhaps, they are quickly biding their time until the moment is right to strike- " Tucker jabbed here to make his point bolder. " Strike at our hearts while our guards are down and we are doomed. DOOOOOOOOOOMED!" He yelled.

"Or not."

The three friends laughed at Tucker's quick change of pace, and continued their way towards the park. Upon arriving, they casually walked towards their favorite spot to sit and kid around. To the locals, it was a nice park to relax and go when one was bored at home. To a new resident however, it was a beautifully worked garden park. The flowers and trees were ripe and blooming fully, swaying softly in the breeze. The ponds were very clear, with fish and ducks and the ever recluse alligator.

It was very stunning.

"So I go up to Ember and I say, hey is. . .that Sheldon?" Brad was saying.

Jenny raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"Why'd you say that to her?"

"No, I mean over there" He pointed.

Sure enough, Brad was right; and ahead of them on their walk was Sheldon. He was another friend of the trio; although sometime they thought him a little freaky. However he was a very kind, _very_ nerdy kid. He was that kind of kid into all sorts of weird hobbies, like reptiles, and mechanical who-ha. Yet since he was knowledgably smart, he was probably the only other person who could ever help Jenny with a tune-up should her mother, Nora Wakeman, be absent. So he wasn't all bad. Just the gigantic crush he had on Jenny.

"Why don't we go say hello?" Brad grinned; obviously planning something sneaky.

Walking closer, the little group could see their friend scribbling some stuff down while he sat upon the bench. He was also lightly muttering to himself, as if trying to sort out his thoughts on his subject matter. Or as Brad like to call it, 'A good scare opportunity.'

"WHATS UP, SHELDON!"

"GAHH!" Sheldon jumped up about three feet, being caught off guard.

The others chuckled lightly as he scrabbled to pick up his papers.

"So whatcha working on?" Brad tried to peer at one of the papers.

"Just some reptile journals I have to write for Science class. This one's about the New Guinea-"

"Yeah, sounds great. So what else is new?" Brad said uninterestedly.

"Ahh… not really anything. Heheh.. Hi Jenny." Sheldon smiled as Jenny came up to the two.

"Hi Sheldon. More Reptile journals?"

"Y-yeah… but they're not all that great." He stammered.

Sheldon was pretty much the most outcast member of the group. He didn't go out too much when he could have; always saying he had to study and get work done. To Jenny and Brad, this was a bit odd, seeing as Sheldon was an A+ student and almost always had all his work done at school. The two usually guessed the boy genius was just working on something new to try and impress Jenny. Unfortunately this mostly backfired. The last item the boy came up with almost singed one of Jenny's pigtails off. She knew he meant well, but sometime he could mean well too much. Since however, Sheldon was getting out more, he was doing a little better with his social life.

Not much, but better.

"So Sheldon…" Brad put his arm around the other boy, as if he was sharing a secret with him. "I saw the new girl Mabaline giving you the looks yesterday." He poked his friend and winked. "You dog."

"What? No, uhm, that can't be right… nope, sorry, I don't believe. On another note, I'm not like that Brad; I'm not suave with girls like you. Besides…" he inclined slightly towards Jenny, but turned away swiftly hoping she hadn't noticed. The gestured was not lost to Jenny, however. "I have my reasons." Sheldon spoke quietly.

"Yeah yeah." Brad rolled his eyes. "One of these days you're gonna miss out on a really great girl. Oh well, can't say I didn't try helping you out buddy. What say we all go get some ice cream?"

The three boys cheered.

"And some oil-cream for Jenny of course."

Jenny chuckled as they all walked together towards the town. As the group of teens departed, the pond began to stir slightly. Breaking the surface, an alligator peered around its surrounding; in hopes of finding a nice quiet place to rest. However, something was amiss to the alligator, so it swam away quickly.  
It had felt something wrong with that spot.  
It had felt something evil.  
/----------------------------/

Blinking its eyes quickly in a joyous manner, it gave a low growl of pride. It would be praised for accomplishing the task handed to it. With haste, it departed the hiding place it had sat for the last hour; waiting. Now it was heading back to report a successful mission of spying the target. Its leader would be pleased.  
Far back from the city were two others, peering down at the little town in which they had come. They were creatures of conquest, and to them, this city would normally mean nothing. However, it was known among their kind that a certain 'being' was responsible for defending this entire planet. That particular 'being' happened to be in this particular town; and was the only thing standing in between their conquest.

"Shhgeeneralll…" The creature from before who had hidden in the park came towards the other two. The others backed away, allowing for another larger of their kind to step forward.

He gave a short hollow snort like acknowledgment.

"Hiii haaave sssseeeeen hhhouuur heeeenneeemmyyy."

" Ppprooouuceeed hhooo phaasse hhwwoo, nnoow." The larger "General's" voice bellowed. Turning towards the other smaller creature to his left, he began barking orders.

" Tttaaake ppaaattrool hhoooutsssiidde hhee ttoown. Khheeep haalll hhooutssidderss hout!"

"Hyess!"

" Eeriight!"

The two split up and went about their orders. The General and his third subordinate conversed more about plans to be carried out. As they hashed out the details, one of the previous two returned; informing the General of the now patrolling troops outside of the town, and the blockades in place to keep both residents in and tourists out.  
Things seemed to be going according to plan, as they had been for the past two weeks. At first, the General was worried that the puny Cluster Colony would expose them; but was restored after the disposal of the Metallic Bugs and their leader. Now things had died down once again, and it was the perfect cover. If things were to keep going alone this pace; then the town's siege would be in less than three days, and this new world to conquer would be theirs by the end of the month.  
/----------------------------/

"Throw it here! Over here!" Tucker cried out in vain amongst the taller peers.

After the stop and eating as much ice-cream (and oil-cream) as they could the four decided a nice game of catch ball would be a lot of fun. Brad and Jenny paired off against Sheldon and Tuck. Every time a team scored 8 points, or 4 goals, they'd switch off partners and go around until they were back to their original pairs.  
At the moment, Sheldon was trying desperately to get the ball to Tuck, however Brad and Jenny were offering good defense. With a shot in the dark moment, Sheldon hurled the ball over to Tuck as best as he could.

"Gahh!"

"Aww Man…" Tuck pouted as the ball went just over him and into a nearby bush. He trotted after it to retrieve it.

"Nice try Sheldon, but you have to have skill to get past me." Brad smiled.

"Or built in jets." Sheldon grinned as Jenny hovered over Brad, non-chalantly.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH" Tuck screamed.

The three teens turned quickly to see what the trouble was. Tuck came dashing past them and right behind them all as he hid. He was shaking in fear at something he'd seen. Jenny was about to activate her alert mode, until the scary thing Tuck had seen came into full view.

"Honestly, XJ9, can you tell your little friend to not scream in my ear? Heavens you'd think he's never seen an Obsonic Reverbirator before." It was Ms. Wakeman; wearing some funky looking head and eye piece.

"I don't think he has." Jenny grinned and looked towards the startled boy.

"Ehehehe… sorry." Tuck sheepishly spoke.

Ms. Wakeman was officially Jenny's 'creator', but she preferred to be called 'mother.' Nora was actually very well known by many top Scientists in her field. Jenny wasn't the only robot she has created either. There was also an XJ1 up to XJ8 (Jenny's 'sisters') however each of them had their own pet peeve and flaw, so Ms. Wakeman insisted they stay in a state of terminal shutdown. She didn't have the heart to terminate them; they were her 'children' after all.  
However there were all sorts of other gadgetry she busied herself with in her lab; and some could hopefully one day be revolutionary; XJ9 notwithstanding of course.

"Wow, Obsonic Reverberator…I thought you were still working on an Isothermal Radiator?" Sheldon questioned.

Nora smiled. Sheldon was a budding young engineer in the sciences; and just as smart as her own peers in the field. When she had first met him, she felt he would be a good match to Jenny, much to her daughter's complaints. However, she stepped back in that area, and waited to see what Jenny would do on her own. Perhaps someday she'd find a smart young individual like herself. Well, maybe not 'exactly' like herself. The chances of that… Nora tried not to think of them at the moment. Right now, Jenny enjoyed her life the way it was.

"I'm taking a break from that; but it's nice to know someone's interested." Nora smiled to the black hair boy.

"Would you like to stay for dinner? I could tell you about my newest findings." She commented. Sheldon could see just outside of the corner of his eyes Jenny seemed to perk to this. Still watching her, he answered the woman.

" I'd love to…" Jenny seemed to deflate slightly. "But I can't." She picked back up.

"Ah I see. Perhaps another time then." Nora smiled and nodded to the others, heading back for her lab and her work.

Sheldon sighed a bit, clenching his fist slightly. "Yeah…maybe." He spoke almost too softly for anyone to hear.

Jenny watched him for a moment; feeling a bit guilt at herself. He was a little weird, sure, but at least he had more than enough of an idea about what went on in her own house. Brad and Tuck, she smiled inwardly, would always 'ooh' and 'ah' at the 'doohikeys' and 'whatcha-ma-call-its.' They knew her mother would always be working on the newest high tech invention of everyone out there in the technical field of robots, yet they never really knew what the inventions were, where as Sheldon did. Jenny briefly gave an inward chuckle about what her mother had told her the other day; when they had tried to work together to 'save' her from Vexus during the Cluster attack. Both Nora and Sheldon had their own opinions on what should have been done to do so, and resulted in a fist fight. Jenny would have loved to have seen that.

"Hey what about us! Can we come over for dinner?" Tuck cried, feeling left out.

Brad was about to yell at the boy why it was rude to 'invite' yourself over; but to his surprise, Nora just chuckled.

"Well, I guess it would be alright. We've not really had company for dinner in such a long time, come to think of it."

"Wow. Gee, thanks Ms. Wakeman." Brad smiled. Tuck looked triumphed.

"Yeah, Mom. This is a surprise." Jenny hugged her mother, smiling at the thought of having friends over for dinner. Something she surprisingly had never thought to ask for.

"Well, things have been doing well lately and I figured 'Why not?'" Nora began to babble on a bit, only pausing when she was finished.

" Now if you don't mind, I need to finish my experiments for today. I shall see you a little later dear." She gave a small wave of the hand and turned towards the house.

"Awesome. Wonder what we're gonna have?" Tucker mused.

"Dunno, but it's gonna be great! Heh; I'm surprised your loyal fan didn't take Wakeman up on the offer, Jen." Brad grinned.

Jenny's smiled faded a little. " I think it was me." Looking around, she noticed that he wasn't near the group anymore. During the small conversation, Sheldon had wandered off. For a moment, Jenny though he had gone home already; but she caught sight of his trademark red jacket just a block down. He was sitting in a tree.

'Hmm. Didn't know he could climb. Didn't know he wasn't afraid of heights either.'

By no means was the branch the boy sitting upon all that high from the ground; but to some people, like Tuck, it could be a bit high. Giving Brad a 'One moment' signal, Jenny glided over to the lone boy. The lone boy in question, was facing the opposite direction, looking across what many yards he could see.

'Why do I have to be like this? I'm such a screw up.' Sheldon thought to himself.

"Sheldon?"

Sheldon turned towards the source of the voice; his 'beloved', with wide eyes. He seemed to be asking an unspoken question.

"If you really want to come over for dinner, it'll be alright." Jenny gave him a sincere look. "I really don't mine. You are my friend too, after all."

"Yeah, but I know I'm intruding." Sheldon seemed to be quiet. Jenny was a little surprised.

"It's not intruding if I'm inviting you." She smiled, and few up to meet him at eye level.

"You really mean it?" Sheldon gave a small grin.

"Yes. So cheer up, ok? Seeing you being depressed…it's kinda weird. I've never seen you so down before."

"Just a lot on my mind is all. But I promise not to make you worry. Thank you so much Jenny!" Sheldon smiled, then lifted himself off the branch and landed to the ground with ease. Waving quickly he began towards his house. "See you tonight."

Jenny waved back, and laughed a little at herself. It really didn't take much to make him happy. She briefly wondered if he was going to fall off the tree with shock, but to her surprise he bounded off it like one would hop off a counter top. So this is what her mother told her about; the innate human abilities that people get only under circumstances of extreme pressure or adrenaline highs. She briefly wondered if all humans could do this as she wondered back to her house and he other two friends. She stored the idea away as it became replaced with a new one. What was the best way to get Brad and Tucker with the water hose?  
/----------------------------/

Sheldon couldn't be happier. Everything else to him was a blur as he winded past them to reach his house. Sure, it wasn't like a date or anything, but still enough, it was dinner with Jenny. Arriving to his domicile, Sheldon danced to the mailbox, retrieving the contents and made his way inside. However, just before he walked in, he noticed his neighbor sitting outside. The neighbor was a boy, about his age. He looked rather pale, and every time Sheldon saw him, he was always writing on some kind of notepad.  
Sheldon shrugged and filed that thought away. Not like it really mattered anyway, right? He had to get ready. He was going to have dinner with Jenny after all.  
/----------------------------/

T.B.C. in Src"2" Cry  
(A/N) Ugh, i do not like this new format system FF has installed. Sorry if my story looks a bit choppy because of it. Grr. Oh wells, at least it doesn't look as bad as before. Take care all. Be back soon with more!


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